Diversity bill doesn't make it to Senate floor
June 6, 2007
One of the most controversial higher-education bills in the Missouri General Assembly this session came close to passage but failed to make it to the Senate floor in the final days of debate.
The Emily Brooker Intellectual Diversity Act is named for Brooker, a former Missouri State University student who filed suit against MSU after one of her professors lowered her grade when she refused to sign a petition against her personal beliefs.
The bill would have required every Missouri university and college to set guidelines and procedures for dealing with similar complaints and to make those policies known to students.
Since the introduction of the bill, there has been a backlash of opposition from student leaders and faculty members, who believe the bill could change the way professors teach and actually take away the free exchange of ideas.
"It was an absolutely silly piece of legislation," said professor Frank Schmidt, a member of the MU Faculty Council.
Rep. Jane Cunningham, R-Chesterfield, who sponsored the bill, said she was trying to promote diverse ideas on campus.
"I don't understand how it could do the opposite," she said.
The bill passed out of the House on April 12, but many said the bill did not make it to debate on the Senate floor because it was a partisan issue, and it wasn't high on the legislative to-do list.
"I think that the fact that it didn't get to the docket just shows you the priority of the bill in the great scheme of things," MU College Democrats spokesman Rick Puig said. "Whether you're a Republican or a Democrat, you can agree that the bill wasn't important enough."
Despite the ultimate failure of the bill, Cunningham said she was encouraged by the progress the bill made this session.
Cunningham said she would sponsor the bill again next session, but with a few changes.
She credited Sen. Norma Champion, R-Greene County, with introducing a committee substitute bill in the Senate that featured new ideas Cunningham had not thought of, including a requirement for universities to send their policy reports and grievance reports through the Coordinating Board of Higher Education.
Cunningham also discussed another possible addition to the bill. She said there are some accredited organizations across the country that might look at a university and if that school doesn't abide by certain standards of the organization, the university would not receive authorization for certain things.
"If we are holding our universities to the line to make sure they aren't discriminating against our kids, but the universities are being discriminated against, too, then they're caught between a rock and a hard place," Cunningham said.
With the momentum gained this session, some said they would monitor the bill more closely if it is reintroduced next year.
"There are no changes that can be made that can make this a good bill," Rep. Jeff Harris, D-Columbia, said. "Legislators should not micromanage. This is another example of right-wingers overreaching and meddling in areas where they shouldn't be."
Craig Stevenson, a legislative director for the Associated Students of the University of Missouri, agreed the legislature should keep out of a university's policy as much as possible.
"Anything that can be handled on a campus level is better for everyone," Stevenson said.
Cunningham cited the Brooker case as a reason for legislators to implement a check process with university conduct.
"State legislators all around the country need to be aware of this, and we need to be protecting our universities from viewpoint discrimination," she said.
Puig said he was proud of the student reaction to the bill.
"We did a great job as students uniting against it," Puig said. "And if it comes back next year, we'll fight it even harder."
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